Friday, March 25, 2011

Familiar Ringtone

Most of us are familiar with the stock ringtone we get with our iPhones. How often have you been in a public place, like a supermarket line-up, and you hear that familiar ringtone that comes on the standard iPhone setting and you reach into your pocket to grab the phone, but it isn't yours that's ringing! Or you wonder why the person beside you hasn't answered it yet and you realize later that you missed a call.

I often leave my iPhone on vibrate so I feel it ringing in my back pocket, on my hip or in my jacket. This way I'm the only one that knows it ringing. I also started assigning unique ringtones to different people so I would know who's calling. For instance, when work phones it rings with a warning klaxon. Even my kids now know when it's work.

The funniest iPhone ringer story I have also involves the men's room. I was at the airport waiting for a flight and decided to make use of the men's room, since I'd just finished a rather large coffee. Standing at the farthest urinal, a gentlemen was seated in the stall to my right and I heard that oh-too-familiar iPhone ringtone go off.

If it had been me in that stall I would likely have silenced the phone and called the person back a few minutes later. This gentlemen decided to answer the call "Bob Stevens" (not his real name). I did the only reasonable think I could think of doing. I pulled the urinal's flush handle and held it for about ten seconds so the caller would have no doubt where Bob was and what he was doing!

It reminds me of a free game called Bathroom Simulator, made by BigFat Simulations. In fact, many times when I enter a men's room and have to make a decision about which urinal to choose from, I think of that game.